From German Patent Publication No. 29 26 490, a fastening device is known for fastening a fuel injection valve to an intake pipe, in which the axial fixing of the fuel injection valve to the fuel distributor line, or to a plug nipple, takes place via a fastening element constructed as a U-shaped securing bracket having two limbs that are flexible in the radial direction. In the assembled state, the securing bracket engages through corresponding openings in the plug nipple, and is capable of snapping into an opening, fashioned as an annular groove, in a connecting fitting of the fuel injection valve. The axial play between the openings and the securing bracket, as well as between the annular groove and the securing bracket, should be kept small in order to achieve a precise fixing of the fuel injection valve without twisting the seal.
A disadvantage of the fastening device known from German Patent Publication No. 29 26 490 is in particular the twisting effect that the various holding parts have on the fuel injection valve. The flow of force that is produced in the fuel injection valve results in deformations, and thus in changes in the stroke of the valve needle, up to the point of jamming, and to a pressure or bending load on the housing parts, which in general have thin walls and are welded to one another at various points. In addition, each fastening measure, using for example a bearing collar, results in an enlargement of the radial extension of the fuel injection valve, and thus to an increased space requirement during installation.
From German Patent Publication No. 101 08 193, a fastening device is already known for the mutual fastening of a fuel injection valve in a cylinder head of an internal combustion engine, and of the fuel injection valve to a fuel distributor line. The fastening device has a sleeve that is clamped between a shoulder of the fuel distributor line and a shoulder of the fuel injection valve and is made of an elastic material. Due to its tubular structure, the sleeve can transmit the hold-down forces to the fuel injection valve with only limited effectiveness. The surfaces, loaded by the shoulders of the fuel injection valve and the fuel distributor line, of the sleeve that acts as the hold-down device are formed by the cut edges that result from the process of manufacturing the sleeve blank.